Why Are Men Paid More Than Women?

Arguably, there is a clear and concise history of women having job opportunities and pays that are specifically set according to gender. At a global level, women continue to receive wages that are way much lower than that of the men. This being the case, in 2015, the world economic forum released data indicating that it is approximated that it will take about 118 years before the existing global wage gap between the men and women is closed (Michaelson, 2015). Besides before the Equal Pay Act in 1972, setting separate rates of pay between men and women was legal. This, in essence, particularly excluded a majority of the women from certain types of jobs and hence bringing about the prevalence of the gender pay gap. By definition, the gender pay gap is the difference between the average weekly or full-time equivalent earnings between the male and the female gender. Therefore, in spite of the increase in awareness of gender equality in the modern day today, gender has continued to become one of the most significant decisive factors of professional positions in working places. Although not as prevalent as it was a couple of decades ago, the gender pay gap is mainly influenced by numerous interrelated cultural and societal factors, including various stereotypes about the types of jobs that men and women are expected to do.

To begin with, in the modern day today, there are both conscious and unconscious stereotypes which bring about the pay disparities between men and women. More specifically, despite the fact that women considerably receive more college and graduate degrees than the men, many studies contend that it is historical that female-dominated industries continue to attract lower wages as compared to those that are dominated by their male counterparts. For this reason, the society continues to hold this stereotype that women cannot be entrusted with tough jobs like the men and hence the reason why they receive lower wages. According to Carnevale & Smith (2014), back in the 1970s and 80s, a majority of the women made significant progress in moving into careers that are traditionally dominated by men. However, this particular progress has substantially stalled since the mid-1990s and for this reason, a majority of the women in the modern day today still account for the vast majority of waitresses, nurses, secretaries, retail workers but less of engineers, managers or even technicians.

Similarly, despite the fact that women are substantially more educated than the men today, this has not effectively reduced the gender wage gap. As a matter of fact, scholars contend that a significant 36% of young women in America today have a bachelors or a graduate degree as compared to 28% of the young men. Nonetheless, these statistics have constantly raised a number of questions, especially among feminist scholars, on what may be the reason behind the disparities only when it comes to the wages. Carnevale & Smith (2014) argue that part of this great variation lies in what a majority of the women study in graduate school and hence attracting low paying jobs. Besides, according to a survey done by the salary-tracking website PayScale, a comparison of sexes with similar job titles at the same company with both the same education and experience still indicates the prevalence of the gender pay gap. Particularly, it is evident that on average, men earn a significant 2.4% more than the women and hence the reason for the disparities in the payment.

In relation to the future visions relating to this particular issue, I personally believe in equity both in the pay and also the job opportunities that are available for both genders. Although facts have it that women in America make about 80% of what the men make, there is hope for the narrowing of this particular gap, if the necessary measures are taken. In my opinion, if a majority of the workplaces are going to implement pay transparency in future, then a significant number of women will be in a position to take action to correct the pay discrepancy existing between them and their male counterparts. Additionally, if the necessary measures are taken today, the future of the issue in wage disparity between the men and the women will be inclusive of sound management practices allowing higher growth potential that enhance more female participation in the decision making processes to the forefront of political agendas in the coming future.

Davis 2016 contends that the maternity leave that is usually given to the women is one of the key reasons why the gender pay gap has continued to broaden in the United States. However, as part of what is being done to mitigate this wage gap, some States in the United States have implemented the mandatory paid parental leave in which the women are free to deliver and still receive their salaries. Precisely, Davis argues that if the American legislature were to copy from Sweden which in the 1970s became the first country to change its maternity leave into parental leave for both the men and the women, then there would be a significant narrowing of the current gender pay gap. Based on this context, the United States will achieve a more balanced childcare system between both the father and the mother and this, in essence, will help women begin to earn more. Additionally, owing to the fact that the society is stereotypic about the roles that should be played by the women other states in America such as the State of Massachusetts have implemented policies that allow the men also to take a three month paternity leave where they get to help their wives in looking after the baby, and the woman can resume work as soon as expected.

Particularly, countries like the Sweden have already taken the necessary measures required to narrow the gender gap. While the idea of paternity leave is yet to take hold in some countries, Sweden has exceptionally encouraged it since 1974 and has today implemented a new incentive for dads to take a full three months paternity leave (Martinsson, Griffin & Nygren, 2016). Based on this context, women have been given flexible work scheduled which is inclusive of better maternity leave policies and free childcare. As working strategy that has effectively helped to address the gender wage gap issue, the Swedish government has strived to make the business friendlier towards the women by encouraging shared parental leaves where dads, like the mothers, take more paternity leaves. Like Sweden, in 2015, the UK also introduced the shared parental leave that included a daddy quota which is 90 days leave that is specifically allocated to the fathers on a use-it-or-lose-it basis. In instances where the father does not take this leave, both the parents lose the three months paid leave. However, the introduction of this paid leave has not been sufficiently effective in the UK since not all parents qualify for it (Frejka, 2008).

In America however, a number of strategies ought to be adopted in an attempt to address the gender wage gap problem. As facts would have it, today in the United States, women only make 82.9 percent for every dollar that is earned by the men. Even worse, the discrepancy is critical for the minorities as well as those that are the high end of the pay scale. Thus in my opinion, to address this issue, every work place in America needs to adopt the pay transparency which lets everyone to know their colleagues earnings. This, in essence, will enable the women to be more aware if they are paid less than what their male counterparts take home. On the other hand, to fix the existing gender pay gap, the HR also need to monitor raises and promotions to ensure that they are bias free. With reference to a report done by the U.S Department of labor, it is only possible to achieve an equitable development of talent when both the men and women with similar qualifications at the time of their hire are proportionately given similar earning opportunities and given equal access to similar increases and additional bonuses.

Similarly, to narrow or completely mitigate the gender pay gap, human resource departments in work places should be explicit about who is responsible for equitable pay. According to the Australian Workplace Gender Equality Agency, companies should adopt an explicit statement on the accountability for pay equity. This, in essence, should be inclusive of the responsibilities of human resource officers, managers as well as the employees in the remuneration process. Therefore, with these measures out into consideration, the path to pay equity will involve the process of organization and employers correcting their systems (Atkinson, 2016). Besides, given that women make up a total of about 60% of college graduates, organizations that will manage to level their paying field will, in turn, have the benefit of attaining the competitive edge for obtaining the largest segment of top talent.

Similarly, in the attempt to achieve global payment equity, various parties must be involved in the implementation of the different strategies that would aid in narrowing the gender pay gap. Firstly, the human resource departments in organizations should be the most important participants in the process of narrowing the gender pay gap. Essentially, with the involvement of the human resource departments, the process of monitoring annual pay analysis to ensure that payment across all departments is based on the relevant variables such as experience, qualifications, and marketing value among others (Ashton, 2014). Besides, the government is also another party that should be involved in the process of narrowing the gender pay gap. Specifically, the government should be responsible for the implementation of policies that will support better maternity leaves for the women and also enforce laws that prohibit companies from paying men more than women in cases where occupations are held constant.

Nonetheless, like any other venture, the process of implementing the strategies necessary to attaining a financial gender equality is also vulnerable to numerous barriers and shortcomings. One of the most common barriers to the implementation of the above-discussed strategies is discrimination, especially the subtle, indirect discrimination that can stay beyond the labor laws. Despite the fact that discrimination is prohibited in a majority of constitutions across the globe, its presence is felt in the form of vertical segregation in which case women who hold as good or even better qualification that their male counterparts cannot climb higher in their careers or even get pay raises or promotions due to the stereotypes held by the society that their skills are not as valued as those of the men. However, according to a majority of feminist scholars, the easiest way to overcome the discrimination and vertical segregation barrier is through empowering women and also encouraging them to take jobs and fields that pay more. This, in essence, will enable a majority of them to come out and ensure that any cases of gender discrimination that could possibly enhance the growth of the gender pay gap are effectively addressed.

In conclusion, based on the facts and issues discussed in this particular essay, it is evident that although women may have good or better qualifications than the men, their skills are often not valued in a similar way as the mens. For this reason, the career progression amongst many women is overly slow and hence the expansion of the gender wage gap. In this regard, it is important to stress the fact that the labor market discrimination against the women persists and unless this is addressed, then obtaining financial equality across both genders will be almost an impossibility. Nonetheless, with the implementation of the relevant st...